copy hard drive

[caramba22242]

My hard drive is on the way out (mechanical noises).

Is it possible to copy it in its entirety to a new hard drive, including Win XP which was pre-loaded and also my internet connections etc

[vehelpfulguy]

I use a product called Ghost.

I have not done what you want to do (although I think Ghost can do it) but I have taken a Ghost image of my hard disk.

So with say Windows XP on disk "C" I can use Ghost to copy an image of it to disk "D". This becomes one huge file with the extension .GHO

I can then install another blank hard disk "C" and restore the Ghost image from "D" to "C". Within ten minutes I have a working Windows XP on the new "C", exactly as the old "C" was.

I use Ghost 2002 which boots from DOS diskette, so the "D" drive needs a FAT32 partition so DOS can see it.

I believe Ghost 9 allows you to do this from CD but I have not used it.

In fact Ghost is a great way of "saving" your XP platform in case of a crash of whatever. Whenever I build a new XP platform I always take a Ghost image of it. That way I know if I get a virus, or other corruption, I can restore Windows in just a few minutes and save having to rebuild it.

[boobesque]

i also use ghost and there is sctually an option to clone partitions (or hard drives). i have done this several times and it works perfectly. you dont need to use ghost though. there are other hard drive cloning software out there. im sure that you will be able to download a free trial which will serve your needs.